Art

December 06, 2014

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of George Jirasek, Milwaukee-based experimental visual and sound artist, and our good friend, on December 1, 2014.

George was born on July 8, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest of four children of Edward and Georgiana Jirasek. As a young man, George attended Arlington Heights High School and went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking in 1975 from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. He later attended Robert Morris College in Chicago, receiving an Associates in Applied Science degree in Computer Graphic Arts and Visual Communications in 1995.

George moved to Milwaukee in 2002, quickly becoming a fixture in the visual art and experimental music community. Many will remember George as Assistant to former Hotcakes Gallery owner Mike Brenner from 2004-2008.

It was in Milwaukee that George began serious focus on his work in photography, developing a singular style, as well as experimental video and sound, often collaborating with other artists. George was a life-long learner, teaching himself how to use various types of creative software while keeping a keen and critical eye on the latest in artistic digital technologies.

Though often shy in social situations, George's enthusiasm for experimental art and music was unbridled, and the support he consistently showed to fellow artists and their work will not be forgotten.

George is survived by his brother Robert, two nephews, James (Sara) and Bryan, one niece, Jessica, and three great nieces, Kaelyn, Ashlynn and Jane. He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother, James, and one sister, Judy.

The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Clearbrook, an organization dedicated to creating innovative opportunities, services and supports to people with disabilities. Donations may be made at clearbrook.org or by mail to Clearbrook, 1835 W. Central Road, Arlington Heights, IL, 60005.

Those who wish to express condolences to George's family should email us at marydm at crickettoes dot com and we will provide you with the contact information.

For our part, we wish to say that George will be truly missed. His quick, sometimes acerbic but always honest wit was a rare quality indeed. We were lucky enough to have collaborated with him on many occasions, witnessing his creative process up close. We were also fortunate to have viewed and experienced a copious amount of his individual work, which he generously shared with us over our 12-year friendship.

Here are just five examples of his talent--three photographs and two videos (272 (272, 2010) and fish pond (t-mix, 2010))--posted in honor of an artist who never stopped learning and never gave up:

More of George's work can be viewed on Vimeo, where his channel will remain online for the foreseeable future and serve as his artistic digital legacy, which is exactly what George would've wanted.

September 11, 2014

Back in January, we blogged up a brand spankin' new web-based project called 365 Artists | 365 Days. Expectations were high that this project would buck the annoying it-was-a-great-idea-but-we-got-distracted-and-crap-canned-it odds and instead keep up the stamina promised to deliver much needed attention to individual artists each and every day.

We are pleased to report that our hopes have not been dashed upon the jagged rocks of a raging sea of frustration, but rather continues to be buoyed by the unwavering commitment of creators/curators Frank Juarez of Frank Juarez Gallery (Sheboygan) and Zina Mussmann and Rachel Quirk of Greymatter Gallery (Milwaukee). Can I get a Whoot? Whoot! Thank you.

As of August 25, 365 Artists | 365 Days has featured artists from 34 States of these United as well as 8 other countries: Canada, Singapore, Scotland, Australia, Slovenia, Serbia, United Kingdom, and Lithuania. It's also clocked 64,710 blog visits, snagged 425 e-mail subscribers and accumulated 1,193 Facebook followers--you become one too here.

Seeing as we're all about highlighting projects that actually keep on keepin' on, we posed three questions to Juarez, Mussmann and Quirk, which they graciously answered in one harmonized voice.

Cricky: Have there been any surprises or unexpected challenges that you encountered during the curatorial process of submissions?

J,M,Q: We've been surprised by the variety of work that artists have submitted. This has been a pleasant surprise because we were a little worried that we'd receive too much of one medium and we'd end up over representing painting-or drawing--or video--or whatever. But the reality has been the opposite. And each artist's overall approach has been quite unique too, which we think has added to the appeal of this project. Our goal from the beginning has been to show the very wide scope that contemporary art forms take, and in meeting that goal we've been really proud to be a part of this project and continue to actively engage our readers.

Cricky: I see that you still have the submission page active. Do you anticipate closing submissions at any point? If so, what is that date?

J,M,Q: We would like to keep the submission page active as we move into 2015.

Cricky: Any plans to continue this another year?

J,M,Q: We have plans to continue this project next year. We're working on the details of what this would look like. This project has been rewarding on many levels. Our featured artists have been enthusiastically promoting their online feature via social media. We all think we're on to something great and would love to explore it further.

And with that final answer you have no excuse whatsoever not to submit your most fabulous work and possibly join the honored ranks of 365 Artists | 365 Days--not even "I'm so terrified I'm not sure I can hold my clicker finger steady enough to hit the submission button." Do It Now!

August 01, 2014

Improvisation is a mighty word that holds the power to stir up fear and dread in the hearts of many artists. It has such potency, in fact, that we tend to shorten it to its far more emotionally tolerable and cute version, improv. Hear how pithy and fun that sounds? A little word like that could never hurt us or make us want to crawl into a dark corner, rocking back and forth, murmuring creepily to ourselves, "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay."

But those who consistently shy away from improvisation do themselves a great injustice as they actively and willingly deny the incredible, complex, hard-to-define experience it offers. With all senses engaged--yes, even your smeller--at a level both higher and deeper, improvisation provides us with the semi-structured freedom to generate artistic moments and works we had no idea we were capable of creating. And, boy howdy, does it feel good!

It is in this spirit that Unrehearsed MKE, the musically driven improv project, was founded back in March, 2013. Now held at its permanent home, The Jazz Estate--recently under new ownership--every first Sunday of the month, it continues to grow and thrive as a gotta-do-that performance opportunity for musicians and artists wanting to shed their comfort zones and get free, baby.

The backstory of Unrehearsed MKE, shared with me by founder/co-curator/drummer/composer/educator Devin Drobka, is an age-old one: A musician starts jamming with another musician who has an idea to create a project so good--in this case Out Of Your Head Baltimore & Brooklyn--that the other musician decides to do something similar in another city--Milwaukee--and BAM! Unrehearsed MKE is born.

How Drobka teamed up with his two fellow curators, double bassist Barry Paul Clark and alto saxophonist Steve Gallam, is equally familiar to anyone who's ever started a project as a lone wolf and also, ya know, has a life. According to Drobka,

"When I started the series I was doing everything and it was great when I first moved back and was trying to just get things happening and I had more time. Then when my life started picking up and I was doing some more touring I was needing help with curating and running it so I asked my good friend Barry to help me out and he did such a wonderful job that it just made sense to have more people involved. Steve joined us and the rest is history to this point. Both are such creative forces that it makes for such an amazing time working with them and having creative stimulation. We talk about this stuff a lot and each brings such a fresh perspective on improvising to their curatorial duties."

The main goal of Unrehearsed MKE is to bring together folks from different musical genres--jazz, experimental, rock, blues, what have you--as well as artists of other disciplines--visual art, dance, video, poetry, whatnot--to collaborate in spontaneous, improvisational performances. As the name suggests, there is no rehearsal, no preparation and no net, so expect the seat of your pantaloons to get a real workout!

As far as the curatorial process goes, Clark and Gallam have essentially the same approach but express it very much in their own individual terms.

Clark: "My curatorial approach often involves trying to put together musicians who I know have strong skills in their craft individually, but who are also very good listeners, and can communicate effectively and honestly in new situations. I think that's the basis of really well done improvisation, just being able to effectively and honestly communicate with others using your craft in a new situation. One thought I put into the curation sometimes, though not always, is to put together 'traditional' ensembles to perform this completely not traditional performance. For example, a string quartet or quintet with violin, viola, cello, bass, piano. Although some of the most non-traditional ensembles are the best, like having trombone, bass, synthesized electronics and percussion all improvising together!"

Gallam: "The curating process, at least for me, is all about variety and group size. I usually keep my groups small, since the other dudes typically have larger ensembles. Aside from many emails, questions, and Facebook messages, that's it! That's curating. The rest happens on the night in question when the musicians finally get together (much of the time they have never met each other before) and then we introduce them and tell them to get on with it. If it weren't for the fantastic group of musicians who genuinely enjoy this music, it would just be the 'Steve Gallam Trio feat. Barry Bass and Devin Drum' and we would do minor-key arrangements of John Philip Sousa marches backwards, and no one wants to see that."

HA! I'd like to agree that no one would want to see/hear Sousa marches backwards, Mr. Gallam, but we all know there's someone out there who would--someone who probably likes to wear a replica Sousa marching band conductor uniform with a few interesting alterations, but I'm just guessing.

Anyhoo, the next session of Unrehearsed MKE is this Sunday, August 3, at The Jazz Estate, 2423 N Murray Avenue in Milwaukee, beginning at 7:30PM. Extra Exciting Bonus: The second of three sets features experimental guru Hal Rammel on electric sound palette with Jay Mollerskov on electric guitar, so don't miss it!

For those musicians and artists who'd like join in on the pithy improv fun on a future date, contact unrehearsedmke at gmail dot com for more intel. Don't forget to tell 'em what you play/do, your availability and what moniker you most eagerly respond to when addressed.

June 26, 2014

Other than receiving cordial invitations to exhibition openings with free food and booze, there's nothing more satisfying for an arts writer than to witness the continued progress of an artist of talent. Truth is, for as many promising and practicing artists as there are in this world there are just as many who have succumbed to the very real fatigue visited upon them by the cold yet practical need to, ya know, make a living. And those who can do both consistently are indeed worthy of praise.

Since Cricky first blogged him up in 2009, Milwaukee-raised painter Boris Ostrerov has managed to keep the artsy dream alive and kickin', adding an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to his curriculum vitae last year, while keepin' the lights on with a steady job as a butcher at Whole Foods.

Lest you believe this balancing act to be one of ease--and, really, ya gotta be completely naive and/or nuts to believe that--Ostrerov did endure a painful hiccup that threatened to tip the scales. Finding himself without a studio space after graduation, he stopped painting. In his words,

"That break from painting sucked soooo much, I vowed to not take a long one again. So I decided to go all in, discovered 0% APR credit card deals, found a super cheap studio space on the beautiful south side of Chicago and started leasing in early 2014."

And that's one more testament to the fact that there can be no freedom without risk.

Over the past three years or so, Ostrerov has been experimenting in the combo painting/sculpture realm, which just happens to be the area most traditional art critics have the toughest time wrapping their brains around. Though their mouths be silent, their eyes shout, "Is it a painting? Is it a sculpture? Good Artsy Gods, tell us so we can classify this work immediately and slam another Chardonnay!"

Both of his recent Stacks and Wasted series, now on display at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center's Ploch Art Gallery in Brookfield, exemplify this stodgy critic-confounding marriage perfectly, as he builds brushstrokes, one a top another--a process that slowly turns 2D into 3D, which is clearly observable in the finished pieces.

While the Stacks series is undeniably abstract, relying exclusively on process, color and structure, the Wasted series conveys a narrative through the loose use of figurative representation, specifically the faces of young college men who have passed out at parties and have been "defaced" by their friends--i.e. drawn upon, covered in whipped cream, etc.--and hilarity ensues.

I asked Ostrerov about the impetus for this series, if these pieces derived from personal experiences he may have had, and, as expected, his answer was thoughtful and thorough:

"I never was a victim of one of these rituals, and don't remember participating in the act of shaming myself, yet I feel some kind of empathy towards all that. One time I went to a party, and in the middle there was a guy sitting on the couch which was the inspiration for one of the first pieces in the series, and he was totally passed out, and someone tilted his hat which said 'Public Enemy #1.' His friends said he drank so much at the pre-party that by the time he got to the party he was puking. It brought a bunch of thoughts to me. He partied so hard, so quickly that now he's not partying, not present, but physically there, just a body. He's in a different world now, and he seems so tranquil. He sort of escaped all the 'work' or hard play one has to do at a party. I could relate to him. Jokingly, I offered to buy him a red cup. I wasn't really part of that college frat party lifestyle, and never got to experience scenes or activities like in the paintings, and for me there's a longing for that experience. I sort of get to re-enact it in the painting by myself, playing both the victim and the culprit. I do see those guys as heroes, it's like who can run the fastest, jump the highest, drink the most. These guys drank the most. But at the same time they are all failures because they couldn't hold their liquor, drank more than they thought they could, and now have all this crazy shit on them. Maybe anti-heroes? The images are so hilarious, the 'decorated' faces look ridiculous, but also quite horrific, I like that dark side of them after the beautiful paint marks, and I liked how it's hard to find the face among all the marks, or food-stuffs smeared across these bodies. I was so fascinated by the creative ways these people found to decorate/deface these human bodies with household materials; it's artistic. Very relevant to my painting practice past and future, is my interest in surface, and viewing something in visual terms rather than thinking about the cultural or moral implications or associations behind the forms."

I also asked him if these pieces speak to the complicated and messy emotions young men feel as they try to find direction into manhood, or if I was reaching a bit with that. Turns out I was!

"I think they could stand for the complicated or messy emotions of young men. Maybe they were yearning or desiring something more. But also they're just fun to make and look at, and it's important that they are also abstract assortments of paint blobs, marks, drips, colors."

So let that be a lesson to us, kids. Just 'cause we think a piece of art carries some message or commentary, doesn't mean it does. That's why we ask the artist!

Reaching Higher: Stacks and Wasted Series is up at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center's Ploch Art Gallery, 19805 West Capitol Drive in Brookfield, now through Wednesday, July 23, 2014. An opening reception with the artist is this Friday, June 27, from 5:30-7PM.

May 25, 2014

Not every art museum has the acreage to accommodate a sculpture garden. And the common fact is that if at one time a museum did own such an open space, it was most likely sold to pay debts or payroll and developed into unnecessary condos that now sit half empty 'cause no one can afford the overpriced, cookie-cutter, charm-free ambiance offered.

The Racine Art Museum (RAM) is a happy exception to this sad rule, with its Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts--a.k.a. the original RAM--situated at 2519 Northwestern Avenue. Thirteen acres of park and a one-acre formal garden designed by Wisconsin landscape architect Alfred Boerner makes it the envy of many artsy museum directors who have a penchant for sculpture intended for display in the great outdoors.

The six steel, nearly life-sized pieces are now displayed on the Wustum grounds and include two giraffes, a pelican, two goats, and a standing female nude. Not sure how she feels--that is, if she could feel--about being the only Homo sapien among the group, but may the nude take solace in the fact that she's not the only one dressed in just her birthday suit.

Of course some pieces of sculpture, like some people, have more intriguing and snore-resistant individual histories than others. Three of these works--two giraffes and one goat--became unconscious recipients of the love and affection of many who resided in Chicago's Boystown district in the Lakeview neighborhood. Their placement on three corners of Elaine Place, at Roscoe Street and Cornelia Avenue--the giraffes in 1978 and the goat in 1999--by developer Milton Zale brought out the warm fuzzies in those who meandered the streets on a regular basis and a real mass relationship with these static fauna doppelgangers developed. Residents even went so far as to dress the animals up for certain holidays--just like some folks do to their living, breathing pets, only these critters didn't loathe and curse them for it!

In November of 2012, a loud cry of distress sounded when the giraffes and goat went missing from their sentry posts. Seems Zale had sold the Elaine Place rental properties to Chicago Apartment Finders and the pieces were not included in deal. For months, all of Chitown was rapt with the story, watching as neighborhood residents proposed a community buy of the sculpture--an effort that ultimately failed in June of 2013 due to the appraised $90,000 post-restoration price set just for the two giraffes.

Whoever Zale managed to sell all three pieces to has chosen to remain anonymous in the loan to RAM, but I was assured by the Museum's marketing assistant, Laura Gillespie, that all six of the works are owned by that one collector. Pretty sure deep pockets would be an HUGE understatement here.

Anyhoo, admission to see this small Kearney animal farm and one female human nude, on display now through May 12, 2015, on RAM's Wustum Museum grounds is free, as is entry to the building itself. The Wustum is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10AM-5PM, so plan accordingly.

April 18, 2014

The concept of space has gone through innumerable transformations over the centuries, with both philosophical and scientific nerds discussing, debating and sometimes vehemently arguing over what exactly space is--and, boy howdy, there's nothin' like watching the tweed a flyin' at an academic catfight! What cannot be denied or clawed away is the fact that space, however defined, has a profound effect on the brain and the psyche. The size of a space impacts our perception of and reaction to it physically, emotionally and psychologically. Add a color or many colors and the perception/reaction changes. Add an object or many objects and change occurs again.

Artists--at least those who know what they're doing--use spatial effect in their work to influence the audience experience, imparting feelings of anxiety, surprise, joy, discomfort, or some combination thereof to varying degrees. In the presence of the most abstract of works, it's not always apparent why or how this is happening, but it can be a very powerful thing indeed.

Curators also employ spatial effect as they decide where a work should be displayed within the larger space and in relation to other work. Like visual artists, they usually begin work with the 3-D equivalent of a blank canvas, standing before it mute and terrified, vacillating between thoughts of "You can do this!" and "Run away!" So when a curator faces the planning of an exhibition for a gallery housed in a building not specifically designed for the display of art, the stakes and the terror are ratcheted up to another level.

Usable Space, founded by artists Keith Nelson and Michael Roberts, presents just such a challenge to the exhibit-master. Tucked away on South Hilbert Street and nestled on the ground floor of an underutilized industrial building in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood, a garage door functions as the front door, with an incline leading to a long and narrow 500 square foot gallery space with no natural light--a peculiar spatial configuration guaranteed to give even the very skilled curator a few sleepless nights.

One chilly and rainy night back in March, I made my way to Usable Space to meet Nelson and discuss the gallery's upcoming exhibition schedule. I'm not gonna lie to ya, kids, twas a bit creepy wandering down Hilbert Street, which runs all of two blocks and turns into a service drive once ya get past the railroad tracks. As I stood under the protection of my umbrella, waiting for Nelson to join me at the gallery, the dark quiet of the old industrial complex triggered visions of film noir and a shiver played down my spine.

Anyhoo, the first Usable Space exhibition, Information Processors, curated by Shane Walsh, was held waaay back in October of 2013, bringing in about 300 attendees. Watching Nelson open the gallery garage door, I understood immediately why there had not been any shows during the winter months. Too damn cold, people!

Moving into the gallery, he noted all the work he and his partner Roberts had done, like scrubbing the stone walls clean, building and installing the white walls inherent to the traditional gallery space, etc. It looked great and definitely felt bigger in person than photos would suggest.

But there was more, much more. Nelson opened the back door and revealed something that I had no idea existed: A courtyard garden, shooting just as straight and narrow as the gallery but adding some 10,000 square feet to the exhibition space. Holy cow and other sacred animals! At the time of my visit, there were piles of dirt and some trees waiting patiently for spring to come so Roberts could turn his green thumb upon them, but a great promise of art displayed in the natural elements was most certainly there.

Okay, so the Usable Space 2014 exhibition schedule will include six shows from April through September, one per month, each curated by different folks. Again, winter months are off the table, so those of you who really enjoy frostbite on your sensitive areas--you know who you are--will just have to find somewhere else to feed your desire for tundra art.

The first show of the season opens tonight, Friday April 18. It's a double whammy of painting, Some Night's When Nothing Happens, curated by Kristopher Benedict, and an installation by Kristina Rolander, Missing You, in the fabulous courtyard garden.

Swing on by Usable Space, 1950 S. Hilbert Street in Milwaukee, anytime between 6 and 9PM. The gallery will also be open tomorrow from 11AM-3PM, or you can make a fancy appointment by emailing Keith Nelson at keithchristo at yahoo dot com or message him on Facebook.

April 14, 2014

There's been a lot o' chatter over the past year about the push to bring "creative placemaking"--the latest movement to give city and county government officials wet dreams across the nation--to Milwaukee. You no doubt recall the responses to the ginormous grant-winning 'Creational Trails project, with Journal Sentinel's Mary Louise Schumacher sparking discussion and debate over on Art City, the fellers at WMSE 91.7FM's The Disclaimer droppin' more than a few cents on-air, and Cricky here chimin' in with a lengthy yet necessary piece, dosed with just a smidgen of opinion--HA!--and some historical context that a few folks would rather have ingested a Forget That pill with a long list of nasty and socially embarrassing side effects than remember again.

At first blush, public space "placemaking"--creative or otherwise--sounds pretty awesome as it puts forth principals that, in theory, are progressive with a small "p" and inclusive of the community. That is in theory. But, like many movements and initiatives, it is in the development and implementation, in practicality, that "placemaking" can run into trouble.

I think we can all admit that Milwaukee's discussion thus far about "creative placemaking" has not always exhibited itself to be a model of productivity. Schisms have formed between some members of the artistic community and those in governmental/civic organizational power who are leading the charge and obtaining grants--a top-down approach that seems contrary to the very principals of "creative placemaking." The consistent sentiment from some of the top-downers has been that anyone asking questions should be labeled envious, schadenfreude-addicted losers who pine to dance happily upon the grave of "creative placemaking"--Here Lies A Beloved Instigator Of Facebook Insults--which is, of course, utter nonsense.

Seeing as this topic will not be going away--or stop makin' my brain itchy--anytime soon, I submit for your consideration the Creative Placemaking Forum scheduled to be held this Wednesday, April 16, from 2:45PM to 7PM at Turner Hall, 1038 North 4th Street in Milwaukee.

According to Leah Fiasca, Project Director at Greater Milwaukee Committee, seating is very limited and online registration ends tomorrow--Tuesday--at 12 noon. There will be no walk-up registration the day of the Forum, so ponder your attendance deeply yet quickly.

March 31, 2014

For a particular set of sensitive souls who call these United States home, it can be a tad disheartening to live in a country that indisputably values something called "sports" more than something called "art." And while a large percentage of the population will be focused this weekend on what has become the yearly exhibition of collective lunacy known as the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, the Wisconsin Arts Board (WAB) has decided to step up to the line--yeah, you heard me--for those who self-identify as hardcore art fans by presenting its 2014 Final Four Town Meetings. And the crowd goes wild! Whoo-hoo! Yeah! WAB! WAB! WAB! Okay, that's enough.

Just in case you're attention has recently been pinpointed on trying to mentally encourage spring to hurry the hell up and get here, WAB has been holding these Town Meetings all over the state, talkin' to art fans of all disciplines and gettin' their ideas for what they'd like to see included in the Arts Board's 2015-2017 Strategic Plan. Ooh, pinch me, right? Yeah, go ahead 'cause this is for real, kids.

The bulk of these gatherings have already taken place, however--and here's what's really exciting--the first two of the Final Four Town Meetings have been organized to, as WAB Executive Director George T. Tzougros put it, "ensure that we hear the voices of Milwaukee’s communities of color and those who are younger than thirty." Well, all right and thank you, WAB!

WAB's Final Four Town Meetings Schedule:Thursday, April 312:30-2:30PMThe Martin Luther King Center1531 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee

Thursday, April 35-6:30PMArt Bar722 East Burleigh St, Milwaukee

Monday, April 712-1:30PMOneida Community Education Center2632 South Packerland, Green Bay

Everyone--and I mean everyone--is invited to show up, stand up and speak up as Tzougros and Karen Goeschko, Assistant Director for Programs & Services, lead the discussion and open the floor to your input in preparation for the final plan presentation to the full Arts Board in May. Added reason to participate: Not only can your insights influence WAB's work over the next three years, it can also impact the success of the Arts Board's partnership grant with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), so that's a big deal, folks.

Okay then, grab your favorite hardcore art fan foam finger and get ready to share ideas in a respectful manner at one or more of WAB's Final Four Town Meetings!

March 20, 2014

Here's a little exercise for ya: Get up off your duff and sashay on over to where all your books--remember books?--are proudly displayed. Wipe off the layer of dust and methodically read the titles, picking out those that are so filled with awe-giving power that you could easily admit the process of reading them exceeded mere mental ingestion and passed into that indescribable zone of a nearly full sensory experience.

There's Salinger's Franny And Zooey, offering up quick-witted banter atop a deep philosophical foundation. And Camus' The Stranger, with its exploration of extreme detachment and the absurdity of life. Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale calls to you from a speculative world that feels entirely and terrifyingly real. In the historical fiction realm, Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle and Tolstoy's War And Peace prop each other up like two long-lost cousins. And the list goes on.

There can be no doubt that these and other works provide us with the intellectual and emotional sustenance we need to understand and move through the world, albeit sometimes clumsily. And if books can feed our minds to such a satisfying degree, than why not honor them by creating versions that can feed our bodies as well, huh? What not indeed.

1. Entries must be made from edible materials only.Why? 'Cause folks will be gobbling up your work! While we can certainly have a lively if somewhat disturbing debate about what "edible" actually means, we suggest ya take the what-would-most-adults-who-aren't-insane-put-in-their-mouths-and-swallow-willingly approach.

2. Entries must be book-related. Go ahead and make that homage to Cisneros' obvious and potentially scrumptious The House On Mango Street or to King's more challenging and sure-to-creep-everybody-out The Shining. Or create your own text in an unconventional structure, strategically placing words like "delicious" and "brain" where they're sure to end up together in one bite. Or reproduce a working Gutenberg printing press, using berry juice for ink and semi-sweet flatbread for paper. It's up to you, so get your noodle workin'!

All in attendance will vote for the Most Delectable, Most Creative, and Most Difficult in three divisions: Individual, Group, and Children.

Registration is free and open until Friday, April 4, but it's extremely limited--according to Woodland Pattern's Director of Marketing & Membership, Robert Baumann, they "like to cap it around 25 entries"--so call 414-263-5001 to get your name(s) in now.

For those who just wanna partake in the literary/culinary goodness, the 8th Annual Edible Book show runs from 1-5PM on Sunday, April 6, at Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 East Locust Street in Milwaukee. Admission is just $8 general, $7 students and seniors, and $6 Woodland Pattern members.

Added Bonus: Milwaukee Public Television (MPTV)'s Wisconsin Foodie host and gastronomy geek/rock star Kyle Cherek will be on-hand with some handpicked readers of food-infused lit for your entertainment.

February 07, 2014

The Internets™ is a vast and glorious place--so much so that is ginormously easy to become mentally suffocated by that which entertains but does not enlighten and, in the process, miss the truly good stuff entirely. While this fact is indeed true, there is another, happier truth that this digital playground we have built together also serves as an exacting archive, which we can search through over and over again, each time with a fairly high probability that we will unearth something of the value.

And so it is that I draw your attention to a worthy piece crafted by Reid Singer of Flavorwire, posted, like, sooo last year, specifically on June 24, 2013. Entitled "50 Great Works of Video Art That You Can Watch Online," Singer presents not just a simple list of video works you should know about and experience but provides snippets of insight and intel that are as edifying as they are effortlessly digestible. And that, my friends, is tough to come by in our just-post-the-link-without-comment-'cause-speed-is-more-important-than-context world.

Singer's first choice of must-see video works on ye olde browser is Gillian Wearing's 2 into 1 (1997), and he couldn't have gotten off to a better or more pleasantly disturbing start:

Now if that display of parent/child voice swappin' don't make squirm, nothin' will.

Or how about this wacky little piece by Chantal Akerman, Saute ma ville (1968)? It's worth watching for the nutty soundtrack alone:

Want somethin' a bit lighter in tone yet sprinkled with just enough visual juxtaposition to tickle your brain? Singer gives you a clip from Pipilotti Rist's audio/video installation Ever Is Over All (1997):

Unfortunately, Singer's link to video effects pioneer Peter Campus' Double Vision (1971)--#3 on the list--yields nada, but you can view 01:16 minutes of the original 14:45 here. Added Bonus: Double Vision is the first clip in this trailer of Campus' works dated 1971-1976, so ya can get a taste of some of his other work while you're there.

Granted, not everything on this list will be to your personal liking, but that's the way art works, kids! There are, of course, some NSFW videos included--if you expected otherwise, you don't know video art. And with that, you have been duly warned and/or titillated. Enjoy!